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Soil Song's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Audio | #3 | 3.444 | 3.444 |
| Overall | #4 | 3.111 | 3.111 |
| Most likely to make an impact | #5 | 2.722 | 2.722 |
| Gameplay | #6 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
| Graphics | #8 | 3.611 | 3.611 |
| Best use of the theme | #11 | 2.778 | 2.778 |
Ranked from 18 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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team 15
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Comments
I really loved the concept of this game. This feels like it could be developed into a really nice educational game for parents to play with their kids! The core gameplay is really solid and seems to be built in a way that you could expand out variety in a lot of different ways, such as movement buffs/debuffs, different types of trash, different microbes, etc.
Notes taken during gameplay:
the wiggly text is fun for a start link, but hard when it's directions for gameplay. decomposer and recycler are clipping into the link below it
i love that this is a 2 player game!!!
the swirl fade out is a nice animation
pretty music, very peaceful
ran out of energy, press spacebar. Pressing spacebar doesn't do anything
the background is simple but effective and I like the highlighting around the different things to compost. the main gameplay bacteria sprites are cute and reinforce teaching about compost. Love the wiggling cilia as movement.
i like the regenerate logo on the splash page, may use that as well for next build of my game!
the noise when first hitting spacebar to start game is nice
so hard to keep energy up with just me playing lol edit: got a lot easier, maxxed out the bar by winter!
nice sound effects on composting and gathering energy
i like how the screen zooms out if the players split up, however it makes the falling objects fall to either side of the compost heap and out of gameplay
need restart button, having to refresh whole page and start from intro to try again
upper right hand UI gets weird after winter ends, year doesn't update as well
I like the varied terrain, it adds navigation difficulty to getting different pieces of compost
sometimes objects get stuck floating in the air if the item they are on top of is composted
seasonal background changes weren't very noticeable until winter happened
music gets a bit too dramatic and distracting in some spots
gameplay is sold, but after a point there isn't much variety or challenge. Some story, different maps and different types of things to compost (or even avoid composting!) could help keep the gameplay engaging as the game goes on.
very creative loved the music
On another note, I wish there was a 1P mode, more info on the Energy bar (why should I care, who's energy is that) and more regarding composting. A common misconception is that if we leave things to compost on the ground it will be taken care of - but in reality it will attract bugs if not properly managed.
Graphics are cool and the overall game can be a nice introduction on the topics for a younger audience :)
Thanks for playing and taking the time to provide feedback. I'll try address each of your points below.
Hey, thanks for taking time and answering my points! I didn't expect it haha
On text: the less the better, really. No animation would improve it greatly and you can also check for contrast (between the type color and background). You can also have those as options if you find it would fit the game best, here are some points to consider: https://accessible.games/accessible-player-experiences/access-patterns/clear-tex...
And on composting: I understand the need to be an introduction but I would be worried it can cause misconceptions (there's some comments saying they couldn't put things on ground as kids because it would attract bugs... their parents were right!). A disclosure could take this into consideration and direct people to search more for example, without changing the game :)
I can imagine kids playing this and being excited to recycle their compost to help the environment – I know I always wanted to do that! (but my mom would say we'd get bugs so that was that, unfortunately)
Could do with shorter levels, since I thought there was only 1 season developed yet, but I kept at it and then did get to summer.
It would be cool if there was something like a flower or plant that we're composting for, so we can see the results of our efforts.
Awesome job on the game! :D
I can imagine kids playing this and being excited to recycle their compost to help the environment – I know I always wanted to do that! (but my mom would say we'd get bugs so that was that, unfortunately)
Could do with shorter levels, since I thought there was only 1 season developed yet, but I kept at it and then did get to summer.
It would be cool if there was something like a flower or plant that we're composting for, so we can see the results of our efforts.
Awesome job on the game! :D
Thanks for saying so, I would love it if our game had that kind of effect on kids who play.
I agree about the seasons being too long as they are. We had seasonal event code in place that would have made the seasons feel less dragged out. Maybe in a post jam build!
There are a bunch of background garden assets that we have that would have given a nice visual representation of your hard work. Plants and flowers would grow over the seasons with their size and abundance based on how healthy your compost is.
I liked the music a lot and the concept seems cool, the art is inviting and i like the typography. Not sure if it's my system or what (probably was) but the responsiveness wasn't quite there when i pressed the space bar and i got stuck but still great work!
Thanks for playing! Not sure what you mean about the responsiveness of the space bar. Did you hold it down? Also how/where did you get stuck?
Ah no I tapped instead of holding
It's super cool that compost and microbes are the stars of the game! I think that's a key to regenerative ag - the elements in nature that we can't see with our eyes that are so critical to sustaining life. You should so finish this game! Perhaps an organisation like Compost Collective might find it a useful resource to educate young and old in a fun way!
Thank you for this comment. Couldn't agree more! Understanding and acknowledging the role that non-human forces play within regenerative practices is really vital. Everything is interlinked and propping up the often forgotten about creatures beneath the earth that contribute to our farming processes feels important. I also tried to do the same with my previous Regenerate Jam entry, Hypha, where you play as a growing mycorrhizal network.
Nice work! The sound design was particularly spot on. I found myself getting really excited when an eggshell dropped and cursing onions for being so damn round haha
Thanks! Yeah we may have made onions a tad TOO round. Walls on the sides of the pile were discussed but I thought the compost rolling off the side was good for the odd laugh.
doing MP only for a jam is a risk... sadly I dont have gamer friends so i can easily play it so I wont leave a rating,
i did load it up though, looks nice.
there is lag every time an object drops so i dont think its a network issue necessarily
It's definitely possible to play single player but fair enough. Thanks for checking it out anyway.
The web build has some weird performance issues related to physics. It performs much better with the download build.
ok sweet i might try it out again later and actually give it a rating. I assumed you couldnt play solo because you say in the description its for two players :D
ok i went back and dual wielded the download build ... solid little game, great music, cool art espeically the characters. As far as theme my taekaway was its better to eat human trash than natural foliage. The seasons were there but didn't seem to affect anything (type of trash even) but the gameplay is good... I could see a developed version of this being pretty fun as a score chasing party game for two or more players.
Thanks for going back and playing! You're right about seasons not really affecting anything. There is code and design work in place for seasonal events such as sprout outbreaks in spring, heat waves in summer, increased leaf fall in autumn and frost in winter. As is the way with jams, we over-scoped and ran out of time to implement :(
The concept is really awesome! First time seeing a 2 player game in a gamejam. The art is also amazing. Good job!
Yeah seems multiplayer isn't very common in jams so thought it would be an interesting thing to try out. Hoping it doesn't put people off from playing since it's totally possible to play single player! Thank you for giving it a try and so happy you liked it.
Cool little game. Good work team.
Glad you liked it and thanks for playing!
OHH the music niceeee
I really would love to see a more competitive game mode were both players cannot collide with each other and cannot let any nutrient fall thru the bottom XD But tht all is just an idea ~
Thanks for playing! Originally the worm had collision on it's tail but it was really buggy so unfortunately had to be scrapped for the jam build :(